Events

Events 2nd Ornithological Congress of the Americas will be held in Gramado, Brazil in August 1-4, 2023. Twelfth Australasian Ornithological Conference (AOC) will be held in Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) in November 28–30 2023. Contraband of Falcons At Boryspil airport on February 4, 2022, officers of the State Border Service, customs officials, Ukrainian security service and aviation security service found four falcons in the luggage of a Ukrainian who was traveling to Doha, Qatar. In the course of the law enforcement intelligence operation on September 9, 2022, the State Environmental Protection Committee of Uzbekistan together with the officials of the Department of Internal Affairs prevented the smuggling of seven Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug). The Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) of the “Altai” phenotype, marked with ring D-745 of the Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network (RRRCN), and released into the wild in the south of Chelyabinsk region (Russia) within the Saker Falcon Restoration Project in the South Urals, implemented by Holzan Nursery, was captured on 10 October 2022 by poachers in Pakistan. On October 20, 2022, at the Besagash border station (Zhambyl Region, Kazakhstan), a group of unknown persons were detained. They were illegally trying to take nine Saker Falcons from the Republic of Kazakhstan to the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic (Falco cherrug). Police officers of Verkhneuralsky district of Chelyabinsk region stopped illegal activities of 48-year-old Dmitry Yasko on October 22, 2022 who, according to the police, was engaged in catching of Peregrin Falcons (Falco peregrinus) and Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug). Rosprirodnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources) inspectors and officers of the Border Department of the Federal Security Service in Altai Krai stopped the illegal export of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) to an Arab country on December 22, 2022. The Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia stopped an attempt to smuggle Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) to a country in the Middle East on December 28, 2022

Saker Falcon in the Karatau Mountains and surrounding territories (Kazakhstan) – results of 2022 research

Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is one of the most threatened falcon species of Northern Eurasia, the range and the number of which has fallen catastrophically over the last four decades. One large breeding group was concentrated in the Karatau Mountains in southern Kazakhstan. Based on the results of studies in 2010 and 2022, we modeled Saker Falcon distribution in Google Earth Engine using the image classification method – Random Forest (probability + regression). The area of Saker Falcon breeding biotopes in Karatau and adjacent territories is calculated at 4222.64 km2, area of habitats – 9084.3 km2. Saker Falcon population in the study area for 2010 is estimated at 128–281 pairs, 200 pairs on average; in 2022 – 28–66, 46 pairs on average, with a decrease by 77%. The “catalyst” for the collapse of the Saker Falcon population in Karatau is a prolonged depression in the number of rodents. Pairs that survive while nesting almost exclusively feed on birds. The preserved resource is important for population recovery, and the further fate of the species will depend both on restoration of rodent populations and on the pressure of other negative factors, such as poaching and mortality on overhead power lines

The Sustainable Trapping of Falcons – is It Possible in Russia and Other CIS Countries?

This article was prepared according on the analysis of the situation with the poaching and smuggling of falcons (Gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus, Saker Falcon F. cherrug and Peregrine Falcon F. peregrinus) in CIS countries in 2006–2015. It is carried out within the program “Struggle against poaching and smuggling” of the Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network. The total number of cases of “falcon detentions” in the CIS has 1.6 times increased for 10 years. The number of seized birds has 1.4 times increase from 538 in 1996–2005 to 737 in 2006–2015, including the number of Gyrfalcons has increased by 2.6 times (from 142 to 365), Saker Falcon – 1.1 times (from 260 to 284), Peregrine Falcon – 3.4 times (from 13 to 44). The rate of Gyrfalcon among seized birds has increased by 1.5 times, Peregrine Falcon – 2 times, and the rate of Saker Falcon has decreased by 1.5 times. The number of annual cases of “falcon detentions” has increased from 2–6 in 2006–2008 to 14–16 cases in 2014–2015, on an annual basis their dynamics is correlated with the changes in the legislation. The most effective detentions are in the Far East (Kamchatka and Chukotka), the second region of catching, where there are significantly more cases of detentions, is Altai-Sayan. The maximum number of detentions were made with the participation of MIA members (51); nearly half of the detentions were produced with FSS (23); 20 cases involved customs authorities; 11 cases – border guards. Regional bodies of Environmental Protection participated in arrest only 12 times, Rosprirodnadzor took part in three detentions. In 75 cases of 100 there were detained 155 people, including 51 locals, 13 residents from other regions of the same country, 13 foreign-born citizens and 65 foreigners. The maximum number of foreigners was detained in Siberia – 43 from 6 countries, they account for 75.4% of the total number of detainees, with 75% of foreigners – citizens of Syria. The export of falcons from Russia goes through the international airports of the European part of Russia and through Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Barbarous looting pillage of resources of large falcons in CIS countries, first of all, Gyrfalcon and Saker Falcon, ordered and paid by Arabian falconers. Today the existing need in falcons is ten times higher than the potential of nesting populations

Overview of criminal cases concerning illegal withdrawal of wild falcons and related prosecutions in Russia and neighboring countries

This article was prepared according on the analysis of the situation with the poaching and smuggling of falcons (Gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus, Saker Falcon F. cherrug and Peregrine Falcon F. peregrinus) in Russia and near abroad countries in 2016–2017. The number of falcon-related arrests is steadily growing: 6.3 arrests per year in 1996-2005, 10.3 in 2006-5015 and 15.0 in 2016-2017. About half of all arrests took place in Kamchatka peninsula where governmental nature-protection authority works in collaboration with Federal Security Service and Border Control Service that leads to significant decrease of the number of illegally caught Gyrfalcons in 2017. One-third of all cases occurred in Siberia. The proportion of identified crimes in Moscow and St. Petersburg is relatively low – only 0.83 cases per year on average. In the last 12 year, the number of falcon-related arrests in the neighboring countries increased – from 2.6 crime cases per year in average in 2006-2015 to 7.5 crime cases per year in 2016-2016. The mean number of falcons annually withdrawal illegally from the nature increased 1.64 times during the last 2 years compared with the previous decade: from 76.3 individuals per year to 125.5 ind/year. This increase was mainly due to enhanced poaching in the Middle Asia where this index grew from 17.9 to 39 individuals per year. From 2014 to 2017, 36 peoples were convicted for a crime – 16 were sentenced to a colony and 20 got a suspended sentence. The strictest sentences were passed for smuggling (clause 226.1 of the criminal code of Russia) – from 2 years and 3 months to 6 years of the suspended sentence and from 2 years and 3 months to 7.5 years of a colony (22 convicted). On the other clause – illegal hunting, keeping and transportation of falcons (clause 258.1) 17 peoples were convinced – two of them were convinced to a colony, the rest got suspended sentence from 2 to 4 years

The Reverse Side of the “Strategy of the Altai Kray Forest Industry for the Period up to the Year 2025”

The focus of this paper is on the impact of cuttings in belt pine forests of of Altai Kray on raptor populations

In memory of Oleg Belyalov (1960–2020)

July 22, 2020, was a tragic day not only for ornithologists of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, but also for the entire Northern Eurasia, for all those who were lucky to be friends, work and communicate with this amazing person. Oleg Vyacheslavovich Belyalov passed away

Stand of the Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network on the Issue of Biodiversity Conservation in Forest IBAs in the Course of Forestry Activity

The current forest management system does not take into account IBAs. Most of IBAs are outside SPNAs (Special Protected Natural Areas) with a strict regime that completely exclude felling, that is why one-time total refusal from felling within IBAs put obstacles or is impossible for socio-economic reasons. Nevertheless, it is necessary to seek the exclusion of IBAs from forest exploitation plans or, at least, put a restraint upon forestry activity in the territory of IBAs. This article suggests ways of preserving biodiversity in the course of logging on the IBAs

Resolution VII International Conference Working Group on Birds of Prey of Northern Eurasia “Birds of Prey of Northern Eurasia: Problems and Adaptation Under Modern Conditions”

From 19 to 24 September, 2016 VII International Conference of the Working Group on Raptors of Northern Eurasia “Birds of prey of Northern Eurasia: problems and adaptation under modern conditions” was held on the basis of the Sochi National Park. Materials for the conference were presented by 198 ornithologists from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Estonia and the USA, who published 148 articles in two collections “Birds of prey of Northern Eurasia” and “Palearctic Harriers”

New Publications and Videos

Karyakin I.V., Kovalenko A.V., Barashkova A.N., Smelansky I.E., Nikolenko E.G. Strategy of the Steppe Eagle conservation in the Russian Federation. Moscow, 2016. 43 p. ISBN 978-5-9908314-2-1 The strategy was developed by the Working Group consisting of I.V. Karyakin (Chairman of the Working Group), A.V. Kovalenko, A.N. Barashkova, I.E. Smelansky, E.G. Nikolenko. Preparing the Strategy the recommendations and proposals provided by O.A. Goroshko, R.A. Medzidov, M.V. Pestov, V.N. Pimenov, A.V. Saltykov were taken into account. The Draft Strategy was approved by the participants of the international scientific-practical conference “The Eagles of the Palearctic: study and conservation” (Yelabuga, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, September 20–22, 2013) and of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation. Strategy of the Steppe Eagle conservation in the Russian Federation is published in Russian and English. Action plans for the conservation of the steppe eagle in the three pilot regions of the UNDP/GEF/MNR Steppe Project (Republic of Kalmykia, Orenburg region and the Trans-Baikal (Zabaikalskiy) Kray) have been published as an annex to the Strategy

Events

The 6th International Eurasian Ornithologycal Congress was held in Heidelberg, Germany in April 23–27, 2018. Russia has tightened responsibility for online trade in rare animals. The 27th International Ornithology Congress (IOCongress2018) was held in Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) in August 19–26, 2018. The 6th International Ornithological Conference “Modern Problems of Ornithology in Siberia and Central Asia” was held on October 18 in Irkutsk (Russia). The Round Table “Death of rare species of birds of prey on overhead power lines (OHPL): problems and possible solutions” was held at the Hotel Rixos President Astana (Astana, Kazakhstan) on November 6, 2018. Annual Meeting of the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) was held in Skukuza Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa in November 12–16, 2018. The Journal of Raptor Research is planning a special issue on the topic of conservation and management of raptors on overhead electric systems. Next Annual Meeting of the Raptor Research Foundation will be held in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA in 5–9 November 2019. The third round table on falconry will be held within the 8th International Conference “Diversity of hunting animals and hunting sector in Russia”, which takes place February 21–22, 2019